IATA forecasts record profit of $35.6B this year for the airline industry, a downward revision from a prior prediction of $39.4B.

A profit margin of 5.1% is anticipated for airlines in 2016.

Looking ahead, IATA warns on the impact of higher oil prices next year. Jet fuel prices are expected to increase to $64.90/bbl from $52.10/bbl this year. Traffic is seen slowing to 5.1% growth and load factor is seen slipping below 80%.

IATA says the strongest region next year will be North America with net post-tax profits of $18.1B.

Polish and company authorities say that Lufthansa (OTCQX:DLAKY) and General Electric (GE) will jointly invest some €250M in Poland to build an advanced plant servicing aircraft engines to be operational in 2018.

The facility will test and repair state-of-the-art engines for Boeing 747-8 jumbo jets for Lufthansa and for other airlines. Some 600 jobs are expected to be created as a result.

Lufthansa (OTCQX:DLAKY) is now facing its sixth day of strikes and has been forced to cancel an additional 890 short and long-haul flights.

With the walkouts costing an estimated €10M-€15M a day, Lufthansa is considering comments by Germany's VC union stating it would be willing to resume talks if a pay increase of around 5% were used as a basis for negotiations.

Lufthansa (OTCQX:DLAKY) pilots have called for renewed strikes this week. The German VC union will stage a 2-day walkout this Tuesday and Wednesday after talks with management broke down amid a longstanding clash over pay.

Last week, 2,800 flights more than 350,000 passengers were impacted by the industrial action. The labor unrest so far is estimated to have cost Lufthansa more than $20M.

Lufthansa (OTCQX:DLAKY) has been forced to cancel 876 of 3,000 scheduled flights Wednesday as Germany's pilots union goes on a two-day strike. It's the 14th walkout to plague the airline in a long-running pay dispute.

The canceled flights include 51 intercontinental flights and will affect some 100K passengers, including at least seven U.S.-bound flights one day ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Wolfe Research analyst Hunter Keay isn't worried that higher oil prices in the future will be a negative for airline companies.

He thinks the impact of capacity discipline is more important than the bottom line of a lower fuel spend. Keay's analysis is below.

"Multiples drive about 70 percent of the movement in stock prices. And multiples are dictated by the perception of pricing power, and pricing power is dictated by capacity control. Excess capacity drives pricing down... It’s not about profits, it’s about how they make the profits, about pricing power. Capacity discipline and fundamental behaviors are far more important than the amount of money they earn."

Oil prices are up 0.7% on the day, but have dropped sharply over the last month.

Don't count out airline stocks as growth stocks just yet. A forecast from the IATA calls for a doubling of the number of global passengers to 7.2B by 2035.

The CAGR (compound average growth rate) on the outlook works out to 3.7%, with steady growth across regions (China +4.7% CAGR, North America +2.8%, Europe +2.5%, Latin America +3.8%, Middle East +4.8%, Africa +5.1%).